T HE G LENCOE L ITERATURE L IBRARY Study Guide for The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne i Meet Nathaniel Hawthorne After graduating from college, he did not assume a career. He knew only that he was deter- mined to one day become a writer. His first literary work, begun during college, was titled Fanshawe. He used his own money to have it published, but soon decided it simply wasn’t good enough to be made public, and so he tried to destroy all the copies that had been printed. All told, Hawthorne spent a dozen years after college reading and writing. He lived with his mother in Salem during this period. Gradually, he met with success; he sold some short stories, which were published under a pseudonym. Finally, in 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories, under his own name. Hawthorne continued to write short stories We are made better by all that he writes. for magazines, but he made only a modest living. After marrying Sophia Peabody in 1842, he ––Evert Augustus Duyckinck, editor and reviewer appealed to several friends for help in finding a job, and they were able to obtain for him a posi- athaniel Hawthorne had a low opinion tion at the Salem custom house. He lost his job Nof autobiography and refrained from writing in 1848, a circumstance that he resented and one. In fact, his wife once said, “He had a horror wrote about in “The Custom-House,” the intro- that his life would be written.” Although ductory chapter of The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne did not write the story of his life, he Soon after he lost his job, his mother died. left behind a wealth of material—journals, letters, In the midst of his grief, he wrote The Scarlet unfinished manuscripts, and published works— Letter, which was published in 1850. Hawthorne that reveal who he was and how he lived. himself felt it to be a gloomy story about a Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts. risky subject, but the book met with some Generations of Hathornes—as the name was for- success, eventually ensuring Hawthorne’s place merly spelled—had lived in Salem. Hawthorne in literary history. was well aware of their status in the community, Though Hawthorne achieved fame, he was though that status was not always admirable. For not necessarily comfortable playing the role of example, Hawthorne lived with the knowledge revered author. He was shy and avoided making that his great-great-grandfather, a judge in the eye contact with people. At home, he was likely 1692 Salem witch trials, was responsible for the to head out the back door if he knew a guest had deaths of some of the accused witches. Scholars arrived at the front door. At times he was play- have concluded that Hawthorne keenly felt the ful, almost childlike, and unconcerned about burden of his ancestry and assumed the guilt of his appearances. Yet he was a good friend to other Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Puritan grandfathers. authors, including Herman Melville, who dedi- When Hawthorne was four years old, his father, cated Moby Dick to him. More than a century a sea captain, died while on a voyage. Hawthorne’s after his death, Hawthorne is still revered as mother, Elizabeth, took the boy and his two sisters a father of American literature. From this to live with her affluent brothers. In this chaotic, man came, according to Henry James, “the crowded, multiple-family home, young Hawthorne finest piece of imaginative writing yet put somehow managed to foster a love of reading. forth” in America. n The Scarlet Letter Study Guiden Introducing the Novel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in an aston- Many consider Hawthorne to be the first ishingly short period of time—between the fall writer to truly represent American perspective and of 1849 when his mother died and February 3, style in a work of fiction. Prior to Hawthorne, no 1850, when he repeatedly read the conclusion of American novelist had yet made an impact on the novel to his wife. It tells the story of Hester Europe’s literary circles. According to Henry Prynne, a young woman, in the Puritan town of James, a later American novelist and critic, “the Boston in the mid-1600s. Hester, found guilty of publication of The Scarlet Letter was in the United adultery, is sentenced to wear a scarlet letter A States a literary event of the first importance.” on her chest for the rest of her life. The story Along with others, James felt “a satisfaction in the also involves her daughter, her daughter’s father, idea of America having produced a novel that and her husband, who arrives in Boston after a belonged to literature, and to the forefront of it.” prolonged absence. Born and raised in the United States, Hawthorne Using these circumstances as the framework steeps his novel in the early American past, creat- for his novel, Hawthorne weaves around his ing characters and a plot that reflect the very roots characters a psychologically powerful tale of the of American culture. consequences of breaking a moral code. Skillfully, Hawthorne investigates how guilt and THE TIME AND PLACE sin operate on the innermost workings of his The Scarlet Letter is set in the mid-1600s in characters’ minds. Boston, which had been founded only about two Literary scholars have hailed Hester Prynne decades earlier. In 1630 hundreds of newly arrived as the first true heroine of American literature. Puritans established a number of settlements in Hawthorne characterizes her as a whole person— Massachusetts. woman, mother, sinner, and member of the com- The Puritan movement began in the 1500s munity—rather than as a stereotype, as so many among people who believed that the Church of writers at that time cast their female characters. England was too much influenced by the Crown In an era when most novelists were con- and the Catholic Church. As Protestants, the cerned with detailed portrayals of the outside Puritans rejected the belief that divine authority Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. physical world, Hawthorne presented mental and is channeled through any one particular person, emotional truths. In a critical analysis of such as a pope. Puritans believed that people Hawthorne, Roy R. Male, English professor at the had the power to receive spiritual enlightenment University of Oklahoma, writes: directly from the teachings of the Bible. The Hawthorne possessed what one of his friends kings and queens of England did not always called “the awful power of insight,” and his agree with the Puritans. When Charles I closed fiction remains valuable chiefly because of its Parliament in 1629 and pressured Puritan mem- penetration into the essential truths of the bers to conform, some Puritans traveled to the human heart. American colonies to gain religious freedom and Preferring to concentrate on the darker, often hid- establish new lives. den areas of the human psyche, Hawthorne turns a The colony of Massachusetts began as a trad- scrutinizing eye on the thought processes and emo- ing firm called the Massachusetts Bay Company. tions that occur within the mind of the individual. The president of the company was called the Even the otherwise modest Hawthorne governor. A deputy-governor, filled the role of admitted that “some portions of the book are vice-president. Eighteen assistants served as the powerfully written.” Readers and reviewers agreed equivalent of a board of directors. The investors, with him in spite of its subject matter, which was or stockholders, were freemen. The stockholders considered very risqué in the mid-1800s. made up the General Court, which met four 10 The Scarlet Letter Study Guidenn times a year to elect company officers and vote These residents of Boston in the mid-1600s on company affairs. were much as Hawthorne depicts them—hard- Once the Company was established in working and devoted to their way of life. Their Massachusetts, its leaders created a colony. society had been carved out for them by John Company officers became the governmental leaders. Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts These leaders had been prominent men in England, and a resident of Boston. As a leader of the first and some held royal titles. All were securely seated residents of the colony, he established a govern- in the established upper class and were accustomed ment based on a combination of religious and to ruling. Similarly, the freemen were accustomed civil ideals. The colony was intended to be an to being ruled. ideal Christian community. Did You Know? Though Hawthorne always had doubts about Custom House.” Many feel, contrary to the quality of his work, he was especially con- Hawthorne’s opinion, that the novel stands cerned about The Scarlet Letter. He felt the well enough on its own without the essay. story was too bleak, and so he wrote what he “The Custom House” is semi-autobio- called an introductory essay to add interest graphical. Hawthorne is generally considered for his readers. In a letter to Horatio Bridge to be the narrator, and speaks of his work dated 4 February 1850, Hawthorne wrote: at the Custom House, of losing that posi- There is an introduction to this book— tion, and of his Salem ancestors. The narra- giving a sketch of my Custom-House tor supposedly discovers Hester Prynne’s life, with an imaginative touch here and embroidered letter and some notes about there—which perhaps may be more what happened to her. The narrator feels widely attractive than the main narra- compelled to tell her story, but unable to do tive.